Few may remember it, but back in 1966 a spaghetti western film, “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” made its screen debut. It starred Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach. The film was set during the Civil War era and involved bizarre plots to extort money through a variety of schemes and victims.

Somehow the movie’s title came to mind during a 24-hour period earlier this month when three separate sports happenings drew headlines that could easily have been related to that specific flick’s moniker.

The ‘good’ occurred in Kansas City, Missouri where the Royals iconic baseball hero, George Brett, saw one of his cherished records fall at the hands of a 30-year old journeyman who had spent the first six years of his professional baseball career laboring in the Minor Leagues.

Most likely, the casual baseball fan living on the east coast has never heard of Whit Merryfield. A ninth-round selection by the Royals in the 2010 MLB draft out of the University of South Carolina, Merryfield had not played a full MLB season until the age of 28. The past two seasons he has given Royals fans something to cheer about on an otherwise bleak team posting a .295 career batting average, leading the league in stolen bases and earning a contract extension.

What he has also earned is a place in the Royals record book with a two-out, RBI bunt single that stretched his consecutive game hitting streak to 31 games, breaking the former team record of 30 games held by the legendary Hall-of-Famer Brett. Both Brett and Merryfield shared the ‘good’ following the game.

Brett came down to the Royals clubhouse during the game and wrote Merryfield a note expressing pleasure that he’d been the one to break the record and praising him for the player and person he’s been over the years. Merryfield immediately asked to have the letter laminated, saying he intends to keep it in a special place.

“To do something nobody in the history of this franchise has done, when one of the greatest players of all-time played for this franchise for a long time, it’s kind of surreal,” Merryfield said. “I don’t even really know how to describe the emotions and the feelings I have going on right now.”

About the same time on the east coast another player was establishing not only a franchise record but an all-time baseball record that most certainly qualifies as the ‘bad’ in this sports triangle of emotions.

Much to his frustration, Baltimore Orioles first baseman Chris Davis was setting a record of futility by seeing his hitless at-bat streak extended to 49 at-bats and counting with an 0-5 game. That streak would eventually balloon to 0-54 before it would end against the Boston Red Sox several days later.

Davis’s unwanted streak broke the former record of 0-46 set by the Los Angeles Dodgers utility man Eugenio Velez in 2011. But Velez and Davis could hardly be more different. Velez was a backup player earning close to the league minimum salary. Davis, a former three-time all-star and league home run leader, is the highest paid player on the Orioles in the midst of a seven-year, $161 million contract and is the face of the re-building Baltimore franchise.

To his credit, Davis never hid from the unwanted attention caused by his batting woes. He met with the media and answered all the questions. “I understand the frustration,” he told reporters. “Nobody’s more frustrated than I am.” When he got that first hit in Boston, Davis asked for the ball, and the Red Sox fans greeted him with cheers.

The ‘ugly’ occurred in Los Angeles, where one of sport’s most iconic personalities decided to jump ship in a most selfish and unusual way.

Just hours before the Los Angeles Lakers played their final game of a very disappointing season Magic Johnson, the team’s president decided he’d had enough. While his team was preparing for the game, Johnson called an impromptu press conference. He then told the media in attendance that he was quitting the Lakers, informing them that he hadn’t yet told his bosses the news and was looking forward to tweeting more!

I don’t know Magic Johnson, the circumstances that led to his decision or the stress he may have been feeling. But the ugliness of any ‘employee,’ let alone a high profile celebrity like Johnson, telling the media of his intentions prior to having the decency to inform those who hired him and placed their trust in him is at the least unprofessional.

In his exit the man who boasted about bringing LeBron James to the Lakers just months earlier left with a selfish refrain. “I want to go back to having fun. I want to go back to being who I was before taking this job.”

Chris Davis handled his own frustrations with much more class.